


Little Brother

by Monstrosibee



Series: Championing A Cause [5]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Gen, but vigilem happened the other day so i had to do a titan thing, i promise this is relevant to champion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22513249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monstrosibee/pseuds/Monstrosibee
Summary: "I don't think it's a minor titan, bright Caminus. It seems the last of us major titans is to be your younger sibling, birthed from your hot spot."
Series: Championing A Cause [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1301654
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Little Brother

The half formed figure in the pool at Caminus' feet flopped over once again, scrambling to get a handhold in the boiling metal even though it really didn't have a solidly formed set of fingers yet. Even this close, he couldn't tell if it was going to be a satellite or another deep space traveler; most of its body was still fluid, and he couldn't even yet see a pair of optics in the mess. Whatever it was going to be, it was awful early for it to be trying to crawl out of the same hot spot that had spat him forth.

"I hope I didn't miss the happy occasion." Were thoughtful Metroplex not several heads taller than him and almost twice as wide, Caminus would've been startled by the long looping chords of his titansong as he strode up behind him, blocky hands folded neatly behind his back. The empty planet reverberated as each of his massive feet met its surface, like a brassy bell among the stars, and it harmonized with the long notes of linguistic titansong as Metroplex sang-spoke them. To the titans though, the melodious ringing of the planet bell was by now a common occurrence, and Caminus ignored it in favor of his fellow's attention.

"There's not much to see - the birth of another minor titan before my hot spot finally goes back to sleep." He continued watching the struggling figure in the sentillo metallico as Metroplex drew up beside him, locational titansong settling into the soft long notes of one meant to inform Caminus of his position near him, even without sight. The newly forming creature in the hot spot seemed to hear it as well - it paused its attempts to clear molten metal from its still unformed face and swiveled what may one day be a head towards the two of them. Several miles away was nothing to them, and it crossed them in several stumbling wading steps through the hot spot metal, fumbling at the blurry edge of the pool where sentillo metallico began to harden back to solid ground. "I suppose I'll give them a place in the border guard when they get their feet under them. They have a good sense of hearing on them."

Metroplex gave him a look with those ancient red eyes of his, then chuckled, the hum in his titansong tilting up just barely an octave. "I don't think it's a minor titan, bright Caminus. It seems the last of us major titans is to be your younger sibling, birthed from your hot spot."

Caminus finally shifted his gaze from the newborn to Metroplex's face, which was shimmering with the same sort of besotted adoration that it did whenever the oldest titan caught one of his younger fellows in the midst of discovering something new about their planet. But his eyes had turned to the struggling newborn, who by now was pulling clumps from between fully formed fingers. Caminus snorted, his own titansong hitching a bit as his vents blasted hot air. "It's a minor titan at most, Metroplex. You know best that the hot spots can only muster one of us each, even if I've never seen it." He flared his plating dramatically, letting the glint of the young sun catch on crimson planes of metal. "Besides, you can't repeat this."

The larger titan nodded in complete seriousness, though the crook at the corner of his mouth suggested otherwise. "Oh, not even the great boiling pits of life itself could _attempt_ to recapture a fraction of your splendor, bright Caminus." He flared his own spare loose plating, showing off circular expanses of battered unpainted metal that displayed millions upon millions of lines of minuscule silver writing etched into its surface.

"But maybe," the bare plating snapped back to its resting position as Caminus leaned in to read the intricate wording. "Your hot spot here has a little extra to offer us."

As though on cue, the newborn finally managed to crawl out of the pit and essentially puddle on the ground at their feet. Caminus scowled as flecks of molten metal splattered across the finish of his feet, but bent down to take a knee besides them. It was his duty to wake those born from his hot spot, after all, whether Metroplex was having one of his "feelings" again or not.

"Hello there." The newborn's not-head snapped up, the blank surface of their soon to be face suddenly smooth, eyeless planes surprisingly rounded and soft. Caminus let a gentle hand hover over their shoulder, just enough for them to feel its presence without touch, then settled it there gently. New life warmth vibrated against his palm, but despite the obvious heat it felt more like tiny pinpricks of electricity against his metal skin. "You're waking up, but I need you to go slowly. You're forging yourself around your spark, and if you hurry, you could hurt yourself."

Haltingly, the newborn threw themself onto their haunches in a kneeling position, all of their limbs still too weak to support them properly, very clearly in the process of ignoring Caminus' advice. Metroplex made a sound sort of like a chuckle being brutally murdered to death before it could escape him, but Caminus ignored him; he'd dealt with stubborn newborns before. This was no different.

Except this one seemed to still be growing.

Once a titan pulled itself free from whichever hot spot its spark had bubbled up into, its mass stopped increasing, and all that was left was the forging - the shaping of whatever rough material the spark had decided it could support into a shape that appealed to it. Undifferentiated sentillo metallico remained in the hot spot, where it either went into other titans, or hardened when the spot cooled. It didn't, however, pool up around the newborn's feet like the ground had sprung a leak, leaving molten life wherever their semi-solid metal skin brushed the ground.

Caminus didn't have to turn around to know that Metroplex had that benevolent Smug-But-Somehow-More-Sincere expression he got when he knew he was right. The smaller titan could HEAR it in the slight upward tilt the titansong took in the air. Instead of giving him the satisfaction, Caminus shoved his hands into the newborn's, startling them into a standing position so that the ground beneath their knees didn't completely dissolve into a pool of sentio metallico as it bubbled up from within the planet to feed the growing city titan.

"How did you know it would be here?" He couldn't take his eyes off the newborn as their frame slowly filled out, long lazy ropes of metal flesh slithering into place under half formed plating. In his torso, his titansong hummed at a calming frequency, trying to keep the newborn from agitation even as it grew taller than him. "I was given to thinking I was the last of the city titans meant to be born, and even if I wasn't, we aren't meant to be born two from a hot spot."

The newborn almost jerked their nearly formed hands from Caminus' when Metroplex drew close, but the smaller titan held fast. Metroplex's own wide palm steadied the newborn on their feet as their broad torso plating formed, hallways and rooms visible for just moments before the outer shell rippled into place over them. "Even though we are all old, I was alone for eons before Metrotitan pulled himself from his hot spot. When you are alone for so long, you learn to listen to the way Cybertron ticks on the inside. Sometimes it just tells you about what is happening around it and in it...and some times it will let slip whispers of important things to come."

"As always," drawled Caminus as he held up one of the newborn's arms so it wouldn't hit the jet forming at an angle on its back, "you enjoy speaking in cryptic half truths and metaphors."

"You get to do that when you're the oldest and everyone likes to act like they know more than you." His song hummed amusement rather than actual irritation as he stepped back, giving Caminus a little more room to finally release the newborn's hands.

They swayed for a moment, clearly unsure as their optics still hid beneath a thin film of sloughing birth metal, but the rest of their features were visible; clear sharp angles near the chin dissolved into youthful softness near the upper cheekbones, which framed a wide rounded nose. Despite their size (Caminus had thought Metroplex the tallest of them, but it seemed that was now incorrect), they were all sleek curves and sloping planes, with strong square limbs and flickering flight spines that indicated a more mobile build than Metroplex's citadel. Cool midnight blue was interrupted in places by burnt bronze accents, and the smaller titan couldn't help but note the similarities in color placement to his own, no matter how crimson red his own plating was.

They looked very much like Caminus, and he didn't like it.

Metroplex, on the other hand, seemed to be quite pleased. "They will be fast and nimble like you, Caminus." The newborn's titansong had begun deep in their chest, and it hitched to muffled irritation as they wiped at their optics. "You and your brother will be a new thing for the others to gossip about as well; I'm tired of having to hear the same story about Prion taking a handful of feathers out of Chela's wing four times a week from three different people."

"That's what you get for go - oh Primus, don't do that." Caminus reached up and pulled their hands from their face, where they were trying to pick the remaining sentillo metallico from their optics. Titansong swelled to an almost offended buzz, but he ignored it. "Just let me do it before you poke an eye out." He tapped the edge of their eye first, to let them know what he was doing, then rubbed a firm thumb over each lid, finally clearing enough of the leftover fluid to allow them to open and blink groggily against the first burst of light.

"It's bright." Their vocalizer rattled to life in their chest and those first words sounded closer to static than speech. Frowning, the vented their entire systems, blasting the landscape around all three of the titans with super heated air and nearly knocking Caminus to the ground. "I didn't expect it to be so bright."

Metroplex craned his neck to look directly into the sky. "Well, it is about midday, and this particular hot spot is in a pretty open place."

"Hot spot..." They turned and looked at the remnants of their birthplace as the sentillo metallico began to cool. "So I'm the first...?"

Caminus had managed to reclaim the dignity that had been blown away in that burst of hot air, and he shook his head. "Strangely, you would be the last. I am Caminus of the Shining Desert, firstborn of this hot spot." He tuned his titansong to a broad welcoming buzz, his chest puffed out ever so slightly. "We seem to be something of an anomaly. Two major titans born of the same hot spot."

Their gaze nearly bored holes through his plating, and he noticed that their eyes were bright fuscia, the kind that bubbled up in energon from the deep wells that ran into the depths of Cybertron. Something about the intensity of the solid pink felt like absolute judgement from the eyes of someone not even hours old. "Major titans do not have siblings. Or they have not in the past." They frowned. "Is something wrong with my basic information packets? I know enough about Cybertron, but much of the information about...us is unclear."

"Basic information...? Oh, ignore those." The look they gave him was so unabashedly shocked that Caminus had to smother a laugh. "Nemesis wrote those in the throes of disdain for our poor record keeping when I first woke, but for the most part they're riddled with diatribes about Primus and essays on his personal opinions of the history of each of us. He leaves his transmitter open at all times so that newborns download them as soon as they wake properly." He placed a hand on their elbow, which was about at the level of his chest. "Why don't you give us your name? If we are to be brothers, then it is unfair of me not to ask."

The word the newborn gave echoed in several beats of titansong, one that meant protector and sanctuary and both refuge and refugee. In the common tongue, they said, "I am Vigilem of the Forgotten Plains. It seems I woke far enough from your own birthplace that while we are brothers, I do not share your title." They glanced over Caminus' shoulder, where Metroplex stood politely with his hands clasped behind his back. "That is...Metroplex of the First Birthplace."

To his surprise, Caminus felt a slight sting of jealousy at the shift to the other titan. He stepped aside, nodding. "Yes, he knew you were coming. Somehow. In his irritating way that he does."

Vigilem stared at Metroplex for a moment more, in that long silent intense way, then looked back at Caminus. "I don't think I understand."

"Don't worry, I don't usually understand him either."


End file.
